$cities_for_select = City::lists('city', 'id');

I would do this for ONE record

//to return only 1 record
$city = DB::select("SELECT ...WHERE city_id = ?")->first();
return View::make('test',$city);

then you can access from the view...

$city->name

OR this for many records

// to return many records
$cities = DB::select("SELECT ...")->get();
return View::make('test',$cities );

and the view...

foreach($cities as $city)
{
$city->name; 
}

use pmall's suggestion. That returns an array (id => city). Extjac's answer is a bit n00b.

Actually you could just change the "app/config/database.php" "fetch" attribute from "PDO::FETCH_CLASS" to "PDO::FETCH_ASSOC".

Or if you don't want this in all the application Config::set('database.fetch' PDO::FETCH_ASSOC); will do.